Applique designs are commonly provided as decorative elements on various types of fabric articles, such as quilts, tablecloths, bedspreads, pillow cases, and the like.
Traditionally, applique elements have been made and applied by hand, wherein the technique required tracing pattern lines onto a sheet of paper or the like, cutting out the pieces of the pattern from the tracing and tracing onto the back surface of the applique material to achieve the outline of the applique pattern piece. Overall applique design may be as simple as one element or include a number of individual applique elements that are to be combined to provide the overall design.
An amount of fabric for a seam is desired around the outer periphery of the traced applique element. The element is then cut from the fabric sheet and the seam allowance is folded over along the traced outline shape of the element and is basted together with the other elements. The resulting composite applique element is then arranged in position on the base material to which it is to be attached to form the final applique design on the base material.
Because the traditional method for making the applique elements including tracing, cutting, arranging and providing finished edges by basting is so slow, various different approaches have been devised to facilitate the preparation of such applique elements, and to reduce the time involved in preparing them. One such different approach involved the use of preformed templates defining the outlines of the several applique elements, both with and without the seam allowance. The templates are often made from either a thick plastic sheet that has a thickness greater than that of a limp film, or from a heavy paper sheet that has sufficient weight to be substantially self-supporting.
A template that includes seam allowance is placed over the fabric sheet from which the applique element is to be formed, and is secured thereto temporarily either by tape or by means of a readily releasable adhesive, after which the pattern for the applique element is cut from the fabric, along with the desired seam allowance. The element is then either sewn to a second template without the seam allowance, if the material is paper, or alternatively, it can be attached using water-soluble glue. The resulting applique element is then stitched to the base material, which has had a pattern drawn on it using the smaller template, without the seam allowance, the outline of the applique element. The smaller template is later removed by cutting the base material that is positioned under the applique element. The smaller template is within the periphery of the element, and separating the paper or plastic template from the applique element and withdrawing it from between the applique material and the base material finalizes the process.
Other ways that have been devised for holding the seam allowances in place include the application of a spray starch to the fabric portion of the seam allowance and then ironing the seam allowance over the reverse side of the applique element or over a previously-cut paper template placed on the reverse side of the applique element fabric. Additionally, the use of a so-called “freezer paper”, having a heat softenable coating, has been suggested with the coating surface of the template facing upwardly so that the folded over fabric seam allowance can be ironed directly to the coated surface of the freezer paper.
Various techniques are disclosed in the Background of the Invention section of U.S. Pat. No. 5,141,140, to Deborah J. Moffett-Hall, issued Aug. 25, 1992.
One of the more intricate aspects of appliques is to combine detailed reproduced works of art, such as by a favorite artist, with applique techniques. There is a large margin of reproducibility error associated with combining the single pattern piece elements in to the combined element applique. Fitting of the separate pattern piece elements repeatably consumes much time and patience and is rarely consistent.
A definition that is common in the applique, sewing and quilting art regarding fabric is that the fabric portion that is the most desirable side is defined as the right side (RS) and the least desirable side is definably the wrong side (WS) whereupon positioning of the fabric is noted by right side up (RSU) or wrong side up (WSU) when placed upon another object and within sight of the user. Definably the completion of an applique on a quilt, tablecloth, bedspread, pillowcase, and the like is (RSU).
Although some of the alternative techniques for preparing applique elements significantly speed the process, as compared with the traditional method involving tracing and basting, they still involve excessive time and allow for error in replicating detailed applique designs. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved system and method for making a detailed composite applique element that is repeatable from panel to panel.